OAKLAND — A key figure in the federal government’s sprawling public corruption probe here also faces accusations that he stiffed the embattled and politically-connected Duong family out of $1 million over a failed housing venture, newly obtained records show.
The allegations against Mario Juarez — a two-time Oakland City Council candidate and longstanding political operative — shed new light on the close-knit ties that he shared with the Duong family, who own Oakland’s recycling contractor. And the new details offer fresh insight into a dispute that turned physical in early May between the two sides claiming the other owed them money.
A month later, the FBI raided addresses tied to David Duong and his son, Andy Duong, as part of a wide-ranging investigation that also included a raid of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s house in the Oakland Hills. The headquarters of the Duong family’s city-contracted trash recycling company, California Waste Solutions, was also targeted in the raid.
Federal authorities have said little about the scope of the investigation since the June 20 raids. But federal grand jury subpoenas sent last month show that investigators appear to be casting a wide net by ordering the city to produce records relating to Mayor Thao’s significant other, Andre Jones, the former Oakland Army Base, Thao’s own calendar and Oakland Police Department phone directories.
Among the entities targeted in the federal probe is an obscure housing developer named Evolutionary Homes that was founded by Mario Juarez and David Duong in 2022. The company appears to have fizzled amid a growing rift between Juarez and members of the Duong family.
Juarez approached the Duong family with the idea of building homes out of revamped shipping containers for homeless women and children. The company shared a business address with the Duongs’ main business venture, California Waste Solutions, and had a show room on another floor of that same Oakland waterfront office building.
Evolutionary Homes appears to have garnered attention among local Oakland officials this past winter, as Juarez sought to secure government funding for the company. The shipping container-like homes were to be built in Mexico and shipped or trucked up to the Bay Area.
Yet the deal appears to have gone sour, authorities say.
Andy Duong, California Waste Solutions Director. (Facebook photo)
Andy Duong told an Alameda County District Attorney’s Office inspector that his family initially invested $800,000 into the venture for 50 container homes, and that their commitment ultimately rose to $1 million. But they claimed that Juarez failed to deliver on that investment, providing only two homes before the family decided to walk away from the project, according to investigative records obtained by this news organization.
When the Duongs pressed Juarez, he “would make excuses about being close, or that worker or material costs were slowing things down,” the investigative records say.
The soured business relations came to a head on May 3, when Juarez arrived at the Duongs’ office space at 1211 Embarcadero to confront them with claims that the family still owed him money to pay his workers in Mexico, authorities said. A member of the family told the district attorney’s office that Juarez “held them for hours demanding money and they feared for their safety, because he is known to carry weapons,” the documents say.
Juarez’s attorney later said that Juarez had been assaulted during the encounter, which was reported to the Oakland Police Department.
Barely a month later, Juarez claimed he was the target of an assassination attempt when gunmen unloaded an estimated nine shots at Juarez while he was outside his East Oakland house, according to police records. Juarez ducked for cover and fired off four rounds from his registered .40-caliber Glock pistol — ending what he claimed to police to be an attempt on his life as “retaliation” for his involvement in a criminal investigation, according to the report.
The Evolutionary Homes saga isn’t the only business deal that has come to the attention of local authorities involving Juarez, a prolific businessman who dabbled in entertainment, clean energy and real estate. He was forced to surrender his real estate license in 2015 amid allegations of wrongful business dealings, state records show.
The district attorney’s real estate fraud unit is investigating whether Juarez defaulted on a quarter-million dollar loan with a prominent Chinatown leader nearly three years ago, while misrepresenting key aspects of the collateral that was used to secure that line of credit, investigative records show.
Stewart Chen, who heads the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council, told investigators that he started doing business with Juarez after Andy Duong vouched for him.
At first, Juarez sought a $100,000 high-interest loan from Chen in December 2021 that he fully repaid, the records say.
But trouble allegedly started after Juarez secured a second, $250,000 high-interest loan from Chen just weeks after repaying the first loan. When Juarez allegedly ran late on his payments, Chen realized an issue with the property Juarez had used as collateral for the deal: it had already been used to secure a loan more than 10 times as large from someone else, the records show.
The East Oakland property at the center of Chen’s loan had already been used as collateral for a $3 million loan that Juarez sought in November 2021 from a company called Balboa LLC, according to the records. Chen told investigators he wouldn’t have agreed to the loans had he known this information, and that Juarez became “antagonistic,” “dismissive” and “threatening” when pressed to make good on the deal, records show.
OAKLAND, CA – AUGUST 22: President of the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council Stewart Chen speaks to the media during an Anti-Asian Hate rally held at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. The rally was in response to the killing of a 60-year-old woman named Lili Xu around 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon in Little Saigon. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
In an interview, Chen confirmed the loan wasn’t paid back. “It sucks,” Chen said. “It’s my money that I’m counting on for retirement. I don’t know if I’m ever going to see a dime of it.”
Juarez appears to have defaulted on that initial $3 million loan from Balboa, and the property was foreclosed upon in early December 2022. As a result, the deal cost Balboa LLC closer to $4 million, the records show.
As part of their inquiry, the DA’s real estate fraud unit has begun delving into Juarez’s financial holdings and have signaled their intent to pull his bank records, records show. His attorney, Ernie Castillo, declined to comment on the active investigation.
Already, Juarez was in legal peril concerning another allegation of unpaid debt.
Alameda County prosecutors in January charged him in a felony fraud case that stemmed from election mailers Juarez allegedly orchestrated against Thao’s chief political rival — mayoral opponent Loren Taylor — during the final 10 days of the 2022 mayoral campaign. His attack ads also targeted mayoral candidate Ignacio De La Fuente and former Mayor Libby Schaaf.
Prosecutors say Juarez commissioned the flyers from a family-owned Oakland mailing company by writing nearly $53,600 in checks that bounced because he had less than $215 in this bank account at the time, court records show. He has since pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Castillo, has previously framed the charges by District Attorney Pamela Price’s office as “politically motivated and unfortunate.”
A hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to bring the case to trial has not happened yet.
Castillo last week asked a judge to delay it, citing plans to file a motion seeking to recuse the DA’s office from the case, due to “vindictive” and “outrageous” behavior. That motion had yet to be filed as of Tuesday afternoon.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
